


This Town

by LightningEagle



Category: EXO (Band), Naruto
Genre: F/M, ino can speak english, inoichi murdered, modern naruto - Freeform, photographer!ino, smart!ino, yamanaka ino centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-09 15:10:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13484124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightningEagle/pseuds/LightningEagle
Summary: For as long as Ino could remember, she was trapped.  She was trapped in her home, in her own country and she thought she couldn't escape.  Or, that was, until she did.





	This Town

For as long as Ino could remember, she was trapped.  She was trapped in sorrow, in her father’s shadow, in her ex-best friend’s one too.  She was trapped in a neighborhood, unable to leave and she was expected to stay there for her entire life.

She was trapped with the same people, in a prison that they didn’t even know existed.  And Ino swore, one day, she would escape.

 

 **All of my friends are settling down.  
** **They’re only kids, but they’re married now,  
** **Let’s follow the lies, follow the crowd.  
** **Baby, we gotta get out,  
** **Let’s get out of this town.**

 

Ino swallowed, staring at the families around her.  It had only been a year and a half since they had all graduated high school and gone their separate ways.  Yet, all her friends had all gotten engaged.

Sasuke and Sakura.  Naruto and Hinata.  Kiba and that Tamaki girl who was homeschooled by her grandmother.  Sai had started dating Lee, planning to go and get married in Canada in several months after Lee proposed.  Choji and Karui.  Shikamaru and Temari.

Ino sat back in her chair, nursing her drink, and watching the couple laugh together.  She swallowed again, watching Sakura and Sasuke giggle.

“You okay, Ino?” Shikamaru asked, handing his childhood friend a plate of meat.  Ino plastered one of those perfectly fake, gentle smiles on her face and nodded.

“I’m fine, Shikamaru,” she confirmed.  “Thanks, by the way.  Anyways, how’s the law schooling going?”

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and sat down next to Ino on the couch.  “It’s going great.  Kaa-san is really happy, and my dad is staying awake longer to help me with my homework.”

Ino chuckled at that.  “And Temari-san’s doing alright?”

“She’s having fun with the gym,” Shikamaru confirmed.  “She’s really happy to get me off my ass.”

Ino hummed, taking a long sip of her drink and staring at the party going around them.

 

 **I wanna ocean view,  
** **Somewhere.  
** **As long as I’m next to you, I don’t care.**

 

Ino’s eyes snapped open and she sat up.  The warm breeze from the Hawaiian ocean brushed her cheeks, and she stared at the clear, blue water.

“Yamanaka Ino?” someone called and the girl smiled.

“I’m awake, Hokulani!” Ino answered in English.  “I’ll be ready in ten minutes!”

The woman laughed and left for the lobby of the hotel Ino was at.  Ino returned to looking at the bright blue ocean outside her windows and sighed.

Today was going to be interesting.

Volcano time.

 

 **I don’t want to live my life in circles,  
** **I just wanna find an empty road.  
** **Let’s get away from here,  
** **Let’s go.**

 

When Ino was younger, she told her father that she didn’t want a life that forced her to stay in one place.  She wanted to see the world.

He told her, get good grades, master as many languages as you can and do whatever you can to make that dream real.

Ino had taken that dream and made it a reality, with the help of her father.  She had gotten an expensive camera on her seventh birthday, and immediately began to photograph.

When she was in middle school, her father set her up with some photography lessons and Ino had changed the way she had taken pictures immediately.  She began with nature, moving onto people later.  It didn’t matter which lense, she would take pictures and post them everywhere.  She began to learn how to use filters, photoshop and Ino soon mastered the art of photography.

She was accepted into a company that said they would wait until she graduated from high school to begin working for them.

Ino argued that she could cover Japan and take as many pictures they needed.  They asked her for pictures of nature, traditional Japanese ceremonies.

Ino had millions of pictures of those things, and she sent them all in.

They hired her the next week and Ino got two weeks off from school to explore most, if not all of Japan.

(She did it too and they sent her a copy of the magazine they published with her images.)

 

 **All of my friends are settling down.  
** **They’re only kids, but they’re married now,  
** **Let’s follow the lies, follow the crowd.  
** **Baby, we gotta get out,  
** **Let’s get out of this town.**

 

Ino received the email for Naruto and Hinata’s wedding at the end of a dangerous photograph excursion.  Her guide ended up spraining his ankle and Ino having to wait for three hours for rescue to come and pick him up.  They had given her another guide, leading her down the mountain again.

The company promised that they would get her another guide for the next day, but it the entire thing ended nearly a week later and Ino slumped in her seat on the plane.

It had only been a month since they had all seen each other!  When had the two of them even gotten engaged?

Ino slept for the rest of the flight from Hawaii to Japan.  Naruto had some explaining to her.

* * *

Ino had rejected Hinata’s asking of her to be her bridesmaid.  For the record, Ino wasn’t heartless.  Even Naruto agreed with the decision, mostly because Ino had to fly everywhere.  She said she might not even be able to attend, if the blizzard that was going show up on Mount Everest was anything to go by.

“Hinata, you know I’d love to!” Ino argued back, in the presence of Tenten, Sakura, Temari and all the other people who were helping.  “But I have work!  People are booking me right, left and center!”

“Are you seriously going to skip Hinata’s wedding for _work_?” Sakura screamed.

Ino glared at her.  “Sakura, it’s been two years!  You’re all still in university!  I have a job thanks to my father!  I can’t stop working at the drop of a hat!  It’s not like you’ll won’t record it for Sasuke!”

Sakura jumped back at the insult and Tenten winced.  Temari stood up and glared at the blonde girl.

“This is a once in a lifetime experience and you’re skipping it?” she demanded.

Ino gritted her teeth and shot to her feet.  “You know what?” Ino snapped.  “I think I will!  Maybe you should think about your education for once!”

She ran out of that room, nearly knocking Sai over with her haste.

“Ino!” Sakura shouted after the blonde, but Ino didn’t stop running.  She would never stop running.  She knew that.

 

 **Nothing ever changes here,  
** **I know.  
** **Another day, another year,  
** **Same old.**

 

The most interesting thing that had happened in Heishi for a while was Sasuke transfering to to the Otou when they hit middle school.  Ino had heard that Sakura had begged him to stay, and Naruto had even swore to get Sasuke to return.

Frankly, Ino had discovered that she didn’t specifically care.  Sakura had began to get tutoring from the local surgeon, Senju Tsunade.  Ino dove into her studies, ignoring the world around her.

It was the exact same thing that had been happening for years now.  And Ino couldn’t find it in her heart to care.

 

 **I don’t want to live my life in circles,  
** **I just wanna find an empty road.  
** **Let’s get away from here,  
** **Let’s go.**

 

Ino’s father died when she entered her second year of high school.  Her mother had died in childbirth, Ino never having met her.  Her father was in the police department, a interrogator and the head of the entire Tokyo interrogation unit.

He was murdered by the gang called Akatsuki.  And Ino was left alone in the world.

She remembered the long nights, cold, broken in pain on the roof of her and her father’s apartment building.

No one knew, as Sasuke had returned to their high school, nothing wrong and no repercussions.  Ino couldn’t break it to her friends, but Shikaku knew.

“You okay?” he asked, looking at the girl’s messy living room.  Her homework was scattered over the ground, plastered to the walls and taped on her mother’s old framed paintings.  The papers for her father’s funeral was covering the coffee table and Shikaku noticed that she hadn’t even changed out of her school uniform.

“Kid, you know Yoshino is going work on this, right?” he asked.

“I’m well aware.” Ino scoffed, shuffling the papers, taxes and her bank account.  She was skipping schools to make sure her father’s money wasn’t going to be stolen, separating the cash into different accounts at different banks.

“Geez!” Shikaku shouted as Ino pulled out her father’s pad of paper out.  “You should just let us deal with-”

“I won’t!” Ino shouted, turning to glare at the man.  “This is my father’s last thing!  This is the last time I’ll ever see him, and fucking goddammit, Shikaku!  I won’t leave him to the hands of his best friend!  This is my father!  Not yours!”

Shikaku swallowed and turned and walked away, Ino fuming at him.

He knew she would forgive him, that she would let him in again, but for now… well, he would just have to get Yoshino to get Mebuki to send some food over.  He also knew that Ino wouldn’t back down and let anyone else help her plan her father’s funeral.

He should probably tell Yoshino that too.

 

 **All of my friends are settling down.  
** **They’re only kids, but they’re married now,  
** **Let’s follow the lies, follow the crowd.  
** **Baby, we gotta get out,  
** **Let’s get out of this town.**

 

Shikamaru rang his childhood friend up again, but got the same message.

_“Sorry!  I can’t pick you up right now, as I’m on an adventure!  Leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible~!”_

“Ino, pick up your goddamn phone!” Shikamaru hissed.  “I’ve been trying to contact you for _months_ , so pick your phone up!”

“Any luck?” Temari asked, her gold band glittering on her finger and a hand on her large belly.

Shikamaru shook his head and sat down on the couch next to his pregnant wife.  “She won’t pick up.  I don’t know why.”

* * *

Ino cracked her knuckles and fist bumped the model in front of her.

“Thanks!” Suho exclaimed.  “We owe you one!”

“Take me out for dinner.” Ino countered, and turned to glare at the other five members.  “And I mean all of you.  I can barely fit a meal in a day that isn’t instant ramen.”

The boys all laughed, and Ino popped her neck.

“Now it’s off to who knows where,” she muttered, pulling out her calendar.  “Oh, whoo hoo.  Back on a plane.”

“Do you need a ride?” Kai asked.

Ino sighed and looked at the member.  “I do, but I have a chauffeur ready.  See ya!”

She grabbed her bag, and soon, Ino was off, disappearing into another country.

 

**Let’s get out of this town.**

 

Ino had left Heishi far behind her, leaving them to fend for themselves.  She talked with photographers, she took pictures of death defying and dangerous stunts.  She was hired by idols to take their pictures all over the world.

 

**Let’s get out of this town.**

 

“Ino!” Shikamaru shouted, rushing up into the graveyard where the blonde woman was sitting in front of a clean head stone.

She looked up curiously, frowning even more at the sight of her childhood friend.  She stood up when Shikamaru reached her person, looking at him in mild concern.

“And you are?” she asked, looking at the man worriedly.

Shikamaru jerked up and stared at the woman in front of him.

Her makeup, as usual, was impeccable, along with her outfit.  She was wearing a light, grey, cropped sweater over a black skin tight shirt tucked into pale, white washed jeans.  Her hair braided over her shoulder, highlighted purple.  Her bang that had been there ever since Shikamaru could remember was braided into it, leaving both of her pale, icy blue eyes visible.

“I-Ino!” he gasped in horror.  “It’s me, Shikamaru!”

Ino blinked and her cold front melted into a warm smile.  “Sorry Shikamaru.  Ten years will do that to you.”

That was right, Shikamaru realized.  They were 28 now, and Shikamaru had a six year old son.

“How have you been?” Ino continued, as if it hadn’t affected her in the slightest.  Shikamaru doubted it did.

“Tou-san!” a voice exclaimed and a small boy ran into Shikamaru’s legs.  Ino stared at the boy in shock, and he, in turn, looked at Ino suspiciously.

“Tou-san, who’s ‘dis?” the boy asked, staring up at his father curiously.  Ino turned to look at her old friend.

“Damn, Shikamaru.  Who’d you hit up?  And how the hell did they get you to agree to taking custody of him?” Ino asked.

“Well, considering we live in the same house, I’d say me.” a new voice and Ino whipped  around see Temari.

Ino clapped a hand over her mouth and stared at the woman in shock.  Temari was holding another child in her arms, another boy by the looks of it.

“Oh my god!” Ino exclaimed and turned back to Shikamaru excitedly.  “You knocked up Temari-senpai?  And you two actually got married?  When?  Before or after?”

Shikamaru sent his childhood friend a look and lifted up his son.  “Yes.  Yes.  July 18, nine years ago.  After.  Shikadai is six years old.”

Ino gave her old friend a look and whistled.  “You actually continued the family tradition?  I wasn’t ever planning to subject my kids to that.”

Temari chuckled.  “Would you like to join us for dinner, Ino?” she asked.

Ino shrugged.  “Sure.  Hey, Shika, did you actually become a lawyer?”

“Yes.  Sadly.”

“Haha!”

* * *

“Ino,” Shikamaru began.  “Why didn’t you answer any of our calls?”

Ino froze on in the armchair and set her drink on the coffee table.  Shikadai and his little brother, Yoruichi, were in bed and Temari was sitting across from Ino on the couch, Shikamaru in the kitchen.

“I lost that phone.” Ino admitted.

Temari and Shikamaru stiffened.  Shikamaru sent the woman a look and Ino leaned back on the couch.

“You _lost_ your phone?” Shikamaru demanded.

Ino rolled her eyes.  “Yes.  I said it once.  Why?”

“Why didn’t you cancel it?” he demanded.  “I still get your voicemail!”

Ino sighed.  “I did cancel it.  In fact, I cancelled it and threw the device into a volcano.”

“When did you see a volcano?” Temari demanded in horror.  “And get close enough to throw a _phone_ into it!?”

“Off topic!” Shikamaru exclaimed and looked at the blonde woman.  “Ino, why…”

“Why did I never answer your emails?” she finished.  “Why didn’t I ever contact you?  Why did I never say where I was, how I was doing, if I was dating, how I was?”  She turned and looked at Shikamaru with a dark look.

Suddenly, Shikamaru knew exactly why.

“You know exactly why, Shikamaru.”  Ino stood up and left, and Shikamaru didn’t even try to stop her.

 

**Let’s get out of this town.**

 

Ino was no longer trapped.  She was never bonded to one place.  She was free to go wherever she wanted, whenever she wants.

She lived out of three packs--a suitcase, a camera bag and an oversized shoulder bag.  Ino was never held down, she was a free spirit.

Shikamaru realized that far too late, and he could have tried to pin her down for at least every second year, but he didn’t.

Ino was far too free.

**Author's Note:**

> My favourite Naruto character is Yamanaka Ino, and frankly, I enjoy writing about her.
> 
> Ino as a photographer is one of my favourite ideas, right after her practically growing up making music for the entertainment industry. It's just fun to write about her in modern times, though writing about her in the Naruto!Verse is pretty fun too.
> 
> (especially when she's trying to find a cure for her mother and goes to a sannin for help)


End file.
